The 2007 Garden

Disclaimer: All information on this site is for informational purposes only. Before using any alternative remedy, begin any new exercise routine or otherwise start trying any of the recipes included on these pages, check with your primary health provider. Many herbs, foods, and exercises can conflict with medications you are taking or have unknown side effects.

My, My How the Garden Does Grow

This has been a bumper year for the garden. With hard work combined with lots of luck, it appears that the 2007 garden is going to be our best one ever. Now of course, if it would stop raining so much (wetting spring for us in a long time), we'd be able to harvest things a bit quicker.

We started by doing a lot of tilling. Then mulch, lots and lots of mulch. Lucky for us, one of our neighbors allowed us to come down and load up on spilled hay in the fields from his cattle. Altogether, it took eight truckloads and a rotted bale of hay to cover the garden

Planting the seed was the easy part. As usual, around Saint Patrick's Day, we planted three, one hundred foot rows of potatoes. We planted an eighty-foot row of peas the same day. We got lucky in that the Easter freeze only harmed three fourths of the peas, but we got almost ten pounds out of the last twenty feet. We were happy with that. We also put in two hundred feet of onion sets.

After all danger of frost had passed (May 15), we got hot and heavy with the rest of the plants. Most had been started in the greenhouse back in March, so they were strong and healthy. We planted a total of 31 tomato plants, a dozen each of eggplants and peppers, and the first planting of beans.

After looking at the price of shade cloth, we decided to improvise. We bought inexpensive twin size sheets at the local super center and cut them in half, lengthwise. Kevin pounded fence posts into the ground and from them, we tied clothesline. Using regular clothespins, we attached the frugal persons shade cloth and hoped for the best. It worked and worked well for hardening off the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

Once everything was in the ground we added the mulch we had collected. (Thanks again, Hugh!)

The first planting of green beans has already been harvested twice. The first picking we got a little of five pounds, but this last picking we got over FIFTY. And we still have at least one picking from them, plus two more plantings of three hundred feet each. Good thing, we both love green beans. (I'll put our recipe at the bottom of the page - this is the only way we cook green beans to eat).

All in all, we've had a terrific yield so far. The tomatoes should start coming in this week (dare I say by the 4th of July?) and the peppers, eggplant, squash and everything else should follow. It even looks like this year we'll have our own pumpkins.

We're waiting for the ground to dry out a bit and then it will be potato digging time. We've already pulled up a few plants and are very encouraged by the number of tubers each plant produced.

One way or another, one things for sure, we're not going to go hungry this winter.

Kat's Country Green Beans

2 - 4 pounds of green beans
10 - 20 New Potatoes
1 lb Bacon
1 Onion - Sliced

Start with a heavy dutch oven. Personally I prefer cast iron.

Completely cover the bottom of the pan with bacon.

Add fresh or frozen green beans to cover the bacon.

Layer onion slices on the beans.

Add new potatoes around the rim of the pot.

Layer another layer of bacon on top.

Repeat process till dutch oven is filled.

Cook on low heat for 6 -8 hours or until beans and potatoes are soft.

For us, this can be a meal by itself.